GoodTherapy | Conflict and the Thinker/Feeler Struggle in Relationships The thinking/feeling dichotomy was first connected to individual differences in psychological types (personalities) by Carl Jung. It is used in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator’s personality typology and addresses natural differences in how individuals make decisions and experience emotions.

It is also the cause of a great deal of tension and conflict for couples that naturally differ on this dichotomy.

The terms used for descriptive purposes here can be misleading. For instance, someone with a feeling response orientation is not inherently more able to feel or less able to think than someone with a thinking response orientation; and someone with a thinking orientation is not inherently more able to think or less able to feel than someone with a feeling orientation (Reinhold, 2007).

These terms are used to address fundamental differences in the perceptual and experiential processes automatically triggered when thinking- and feeling-response-oriented individuals are sorting out and expressing what they are thinking and feeling. (Please note that this interpretation differs significantly from those of Carl Jung and the authors of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.)

Although human beings are aware that people differ in how they come to conclusions and experience and express emotions, few understand that these differences in self-expression are driven by innately different perceptual and experiential frames of reference. Of particular note is a fundamental difference in the experience of emotions when conflicts arise—a difference of such magnitude that role-reversal comprehension is not possible. These differences are a constant in interactions between thinking and feeling individuals, easily confirmed by observation of one’s personal and professional relationships.[fat_widget_right]

Those with thinking response orientation:

Those with feeling response orientation:

Thinking/Feeling Couples

The usual cause of difficulty for couples that differ on this dichotomy comes from a fundamental difference in how they experience and express emotions. The moment harmony is disrupted, most feeling-response-oriented individuals feel bad, as if they have done something wrong. Knowing they have not, in fact, done something wrong does not usually help. They feel bad anyway.

When these feelings are triggered, they may immediately apologize, hoping to restore harmony and neutralize the guilt they are experiencing, or they may get upset with their partner for doing something that caused them to feel that way. Neither of these responses makes much sense to a thinking-response-oriented individual.

Why would a person feel guilty and bad simply because someone disagreed with them; much less suggest that the other is at fault for causing them to feel that way? From the thinking-oriented perspective these responses do not make logical sense and are therefore invalid.

Choice is not an option here. Very much like the degree to which someone is left-handed, right-handed, or ambidextrous, the manner in which feeling- and thinking-oriented individuals experience and express thoughts and feelings is natural and normal—just different.

The Challenge in Communication

In essence, two naturally disparate perceptual frames of reference for making sense out of the same reality have been activated. The feeling partner seeks validation for how they are feeling about the situation, while the thinking partner seeks validation for why they think their partner’s feelings do not make logical sense. Neither can provide a response that meets the other’s criterion for being heard.

Without intention or awareness, the explanations that each provide for justifying their own natural and normal responses de facto invalidate the natural and normal responses of their partner. Issues of little import can trigger emotionally charged exchanges that leave both parties psychologically battered, blaming each other for the damage done, while the issues themselves remain unresolved. The conflict resolution challenge is significantly magnified when the couple also differs on the extroversion-introversion dichotomy.

Conflict Resolution Approach

I have been using a natural differences questionnaire based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator with all couples and families since 2000. Information on natural differences has proven to be consistently accurate.

In fact, the accuracy of the information above is such that most thinking-response-oriented partners have been able to accept its validity. Feeling-response-oriented partners have usually been more ambivalent. Although the information provides concrete validation regarding their emotional sensitivity and reactivity, it does not provide them with much relief from the feelings that get triggered when conflicts arise.

If they accept the premise that natural and normal differences in response orientations are at play, they have to acknowledge that their partner

  1. cannot experientially relate to how they are feeling when conflicts arise and, therefore,
  2. is not at fault for the feelings their comments can trigger.

The inequity inherent to this difference in experiencing emotion is such that some feeling-response-oriented partners have great difficulty accepting it. Fortunately, once most thinking-oriented partners have a logical explanation for their partner’s feel-based responses, they have been able to soften their responses in general and become more considerate and accommodating when conflicts arise. This change has helped many feeling partners contain the resentment they automatically experience during conflict.

The intensity of the explosive exchanges that some thinking/feeling couples are dealing with is such that adherence to a timeout rule is an absolute necessity if they hope to replace their destructive conflict resolution process with a healthier one. It is understandable why some feeling-response-oriented partners have a hard time adhering to this time out rule. After all, extroverted/feeling-oriented individuals have a particularly difficult time letting go before their partner has acknowledged the validity of how they are feeling.

The fact remains that once an issue has become emotionally charged and abusive, the possibility of a meaningful resolution no longer exists. Partners with strong extroversion, intuition, and feeling-response orientations may have a particularly difficult time accommodating this timeout rule.

The level of psychic distress (disruption of self) that some experience is so extreme that efforts by their partner to withdraw may trigger desperate, even violent behaviors to prevent their partner’s exit before a resettling response has been provided. However, a way must be found to contain these emotions if they hope to replace their destructive process with a healthier one.

Consequently, depending on the perceived volatility of the conflicted exchange, the person calling for a timeout may:

  1. Agree to a future time to reconvene and try again, before their next counseling appointment.
  2. Wait until their next counseling session to address the issue.
  3. Contact the counselor to see if an earlier date can be scheduled to meet.

The timeout is almost always called for by the thinking partner and resented by the feeling partner.

Tip for thinkers: Seek to understand and accommodate your partner’s areas of sensitivity rather than attempt to help them understand why they should not feel that way.

Tip for feelers: Use logic-based constructs when explaining why they are upset. Example: “Even though you do not understand why I get upset when you say that, the fact remains that every time you say that I get upset. Given the predictability of my response, why do you keep saying that?”

Once most couples realize that natural differences are at play, and that neither is intentionally responding the way they do in order to get his or her own way, they are able to accommodate and compromise in areas that had not been possible before.

Reference:
Reinhold, Ross. (21 March, 2007). E-mail correspondence.

woman looking downFeeling good about oneself can be a lifelong struggle for many children of divorce. When the parent who leaves becomes less involved, interested, and loving, many children develop an intense need for admiration, recognition, and connection. They can become stuck in an endless quest to gain approval and love by trying to be the person they think Daddy or Mommy wants them to be rather than having the freedom to grow, develop, and individuate.

I have worked with many people who experienced divorce as young children. For most, it was the father who left the home, became unavailable physically and/or emotionally, and therefore became the object of desire for the child. The work in therapy for these adult children of divorce is about developing positive self-regard in order to feel deserving of creating separate lives and building relationships that are satisfying and a reflection of their own wishes and desires. The therapeutic work can be both a painful and pleasurable process of discovering one’s own thoughts, feelings, and mind, separate from the idealized parent.

Lucy (not her real name) came to our first appointment and began to describe how unhappy she was with her life. She was in graduate school, in the second year of her MBA. “I hate it,” she said. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided I wanted to go into finance. I mean, I do know what I was thinking. I was thinking how happy my father would be that I would be just like him, a financial analyst. But now I’m in the middle of my last year and he never really asks about what I’m studying or about my internship. Sometimes he’ll lecture me on the kind of job that I should be looking for when I graduate, but we never have a conversation. All my life I’ve been trying to please him. I even moved to New York just to be near him—he left me and my mom and my brother when I was 8. I’m fed up! I hate him! No, I love him. He’s a wonderful man, but he doesn’t love me, never did. I don’t know what to do with my life. I guess I’m depressed. I’m sorry, I’ve been talking nonstop. Can you help me?”

I did believe I could help Lucy. We began our sessions, and Lucy proceeded to talk about her life. I learned that when her parents divorced, her father moved to the city from the suburbs. She saw him every other weekend until she was about 11, and then less often after that until high school, when it was not even monthly.

“I was so bored when Jed [her brother] and I visited him,” she said. “Jed is two years older, and he stopped visiting before I did. My father had a girlfriend, Mara, from the time I was 9. She had a son, Billy, who was 4 or 5 when they all moved in together. My father always seemed so involved with them. I never knew what to talk about. Mara was so pretty, and my father seemed so in love with her and Billy.”

I asked Lucy to talk more about what it felt like for her that her father had this new family.

“He never looked at me with the same smile or pleasure the way he looks at them,” she said. “I really loved him, but never felt he loved me. If I could just figure out how to make him love me and think I was special like them, then I could be happy. I thought maybe if I was prettier, like Mara, or made him laugh, he would love me too. Late in high school, I had the idea that I would go to college and major in business and maybe then I would have something to talk to my dad about. It didn’t work. I kept going back for more and I always ended up feeling rejected. You would think I would have figured it out and not have gone to grad school for business too. My problem now is I don’t know what I really want to do. I don’t know what I like; I don’t know how I’m ever going to have a boyfriend. I don’t know …”

Lucy’s description of her experience of herself in relation to her father was similar to the experiences of other children whose fathers left and started new families. As Lucy and I continued to talk together, it became clear that she desperately wanted her father to admire and recognize her as someone special. She felt constantly that she didn’t measure up, especially to his new family: “I thought, ‘What is wrong with me? Why is he always so distant? Why aren’t I good enough?’ ”

[fat_widget_left]

Lucy’s feelings of self-hate and despair about getting what she needed from her father kept her involved in a constant search for connection and recognition from him. When she decided that the way to get his positive regard was by going into finance, she never stopped to consider her own wishes and desires. When she began therapy, she had reached a place where it was no longer tenable to continue this pattern of seeking her father’s approval. But now what was she going to do, and how would she begin to develop positive feelings about herself?

As we worked, Lucy decided to take a leave of absence from graduate school. She wanted some time to explore what she might like and what she could be passionate about. This was not so easy at first. Lucy recalled that in high school and in college, she wrote for the school magazines and loved her English classes. In a session several weeks later, she was excited when she told me about a writing workshop she found at the local YMCA. She planned to try writing again. Then, the following week, she came to session and said, “I thought I would try the workshop. But that’s really not such a great idea. For me to be admitted, they want me to submit a writing sample. Who am I kidding? I’m not much of a writer.”

Lucy and I explored her anxiety about putting herself in the world to try new things and face the possibility of failure or rejection. As we talked about this fear, Lucy began to connect these anxieties with her experiences with her father.

“He never made me feel interesting or competent,” she said. “Even when I did something good, he would find something about it to criticize. I always see him as so smart and so handsome. I always thought everything he said was right. I guess that made me wrong a lot of times. I still see him as right about everything. I feel stupid and awkward when I’m around him. I guess that’s pretty much how I feel about myself everywhere most of the time. When this writing thing came along, I had a moment when I felt differently. I remembered how I talked to you about my writing and I remembered how much I loved it. I got so excited, and that’s when I looked for and found the workshop. Then I reverted back to my old ways. But I am going to try and steel myself and send in the writing sample and see what happens. I can’t keep myself stuck in this ‘I’m not good enough rut.’ ”

Lucy and I continue to talk about her worries of failure and rejection and her fear of taking risks to try new things in the world. Lucy tries to keep in mind that she is repeating the relationship with her father when she lets herself be guided by her old feelings of anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence. When Lucy joined an online dating site, she withdrew after emailing back and forth with an interesting man who asked her out. “He’ll never like me once he meets me,” she said. “I’m just not interesting enough.”

As we kept talking about expecting the world to be like her father, Lucy’s face lit up and she said, “You know, maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe it was my father that wasn’t so great. I never realized this before, but he didn’t know how to be a good father to me! Maybe he’s the incompetent one!”

As Lucy continues to grow and develop, she is becoming more aware of her special attributes. At the same time, she is becoming more able to see her father realistically rather than idealizing him as the special one. She is doing well in her writing workshop, now in its second year. She has sent a short story out in the hopes of getting it published. She has dated several different men and is beginning to think about what they have to offer her rather than what she doesn’t have to offer them. Lucy is changing the nature of her attachment to her father. She craves his approval much less and rarely looks to him to define what is good and valuable about her. She is becoming a person with her own wishes and desires and needs. She is becoming a person who can increasingly value herself in positive ways. She is on her way to a satisfying life.

GoodTherapy | When It All Falls Apart: Trauma's Impact on Intimate RelationshipsWhen something traumatic happens, the result can be the development of a variety of symptoms that impair a person’s ability to function. These symptoms reverberate beyond the person who was traumatized. They can easily impact close friends and partners, as well. According to Cook et al. (2004), trauma survivors often report a decrease in relationship satisfaction, along with impaired expression of emotion, sexual activity, intimacy, communication, and adjustment. Cook et al. also state that “those with PTSD have higher separation and divorce rates than their non-PTSD counterparts” (2004).

Trauma can impact intimate relationships in a number of ways. Some of the most common I have observed in my own practice include (but are not limited to) the following:

[fat_widget_left]

These problems can cause a relationship to end if left unaddressed. I have often had partners of people with trauma in my office. They feel completely frustrated and alone, not knowing how to make their partner feel better or what to do to save the relationship. People in therapy are also affected by the above issues, which can further aggravate their trauma symptoms by adding stress. The result is two people in a relationship who both want the same things: to heal and make the relationship healthy. But they have no idea how to accomplish either.

Below are some of the behaviors and practices I suggest to people in therapy and their partners as they work through trauma.

For Partners

Don’t try to fix or heal the trauma and the accompanying symptoms your partner is experiencing. Sometimes well-meaning partners will try to “make it all better” by doing things they think will help the person heal. The fact is healing from trauma takes time. The brain needs time to process traumatic information. The best thing a partner can do is be available to listen when the person who is experiencing the trauma symptoms needs to talk. Be supportive emotionally by offering statements such as, “That sounds like it is really difficult to deal with,” and, “I hear you saying this is really hard for you right now.” The power of just being present for another person is often underestimated.

Don’t take it personally. Your partner is working through something very difficult. Sometimes people who have been traumatized feel more distant emotionally. Sometimes they also don’t want to be close physically. This is not necessarily reflective of how the traumatized person feels about the relationship or about you. This is a common occurrence and part of the process.

Don’t make assumptions. Sometimes well-meaning partners assume a person who has recently been through something traumatic will not want to connect physically. There is often a fear that connecting physically will make the traumatic symptoms worse. In some cases this may be true, as sometimes trauma is sexual in nature, which means some healing will have to take place before physical intimacy can resume. However, it is important to communicate with your partner about what they want and how they would like to connect with you. This subject can feel like the “elephant in the room,” but it is so very important that it is acknowledged. If either partner feels rejected, damage to the relationship can occur. By discussing where each of you are and what your desires are, even if physical intimacy cannot occur, the damage to the relationship has been controlled, as each partner knows where the other stands so those assumptions can be tossed out with the trash.

Consider getting your own counseling. I wrote an article on secondary trauma that discusses the difficulties loved ones often experience after someone they love has been traumatized. Vicarious traumatization is very real and possible. You are offering support to someone working through trauma, so it is vital that your self-care is excellent and that you are getting the emotional support and guidance you will need through this challenging time. You will be much more effective at helping your loved one if you are in good mental shape.

Mills and Turnbull (2004) give good advice for partners of people who have experienced trauma. They use the acronym LOVER to make some important behaviors easier to remember. They suggest partners Listen, Observe, Verify, Empathize, Reassure, and offer practical help. Practical help might include helping to rebuild, fight back, console, prevent, or repair.

For the Traumatized Individual

Involve your partner and communicate regularly. I have found many traumatized people are hesitant to share what they are going through with their loved ones for fear of becoming a burden. The fact is, when you don’t communicate with your partner, they may feel confused and left out. Your partner may tend to become anxious and can sometimes do things to try to make you feel better. But these things may just end up distancing the two of you further. Let your partner know what you are going through. You don’t have to give gory details,. Just let them know, as much as possible, how you are feeling right now and communicate how they can help. If you need someone to just listen, tell them so. If you need guidance and support, your partner needs to know.

Attend your counseling sessions and communicate with your therapist about stressors such as relationship strain. It is important for your therapist to know all your stressors so they can provide the best, most comprehensive care. Additional stressors can stunt healing and lengthen the longevity of symptoms.

For Partners and Survivors

Remember there is hope! People initially get into a relationship because there are things that draw them to one another. When you are having relationship difficulty related to trauma, the problems that arise can sometimes distract you from what you love about your partner and why you want to work in the relationship. A relationship can survive trauma if both people are willing to put in the effort it takes to heal.

References:

  1. Cook, J. M., Riggs, D. S., Thompson, R., Coyne, J. C., and Sheikh, J. I. (2004). Posttraumatic stress disorder and current relationship functioning among World War II ex-prisoners of war. Journal of Family Psychology, 18(1), pp. 36-45. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14992608
  2. Mills, B., and Turnbull, G. (2004). Broken hearts and mending bodies: The impact of trauma on intimacy. Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 19(3), pp. 265-289. Retrieved from http://www.recoveryonpurpose.com/upload/Broken%20Hearts%20and%20Mending%20Bodies%20The%20Impact%20of%20Trauma%20on%20Intimacy.pdf

couple facing opposite in bedFor many women, having a baby is a long-awaited blessing. You have been carrying a baby for nine (or even 10) months; you might have been trying to become pregnant for a while; and your entire world changes from being a couple to being a family. Several weeks after delivering a baby, women can begin to resume sexual intimacy.

However, few women bounce back so quickly. Many women feel that their body has changed and have conflicting feelings about sexual intimacy. Here are some very common postpartum sexual concerns for women, as well as some tips to overcome them:

1. Directly following childbirth, women may be somewhat traumatized by the childbirth itself.

Cheryl Beck, Nursing Professor at the University of Connecticut, conducted a study and found that up to 34% of women experience some sort of trauma during childbirth (Beck 2008). Following childbirth, women may experience posttraumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms such as anxiety, panic, or insomnia.

This traumatic experience could lead to anxious feelings about your vagina in general, and it is not uncommon for women to be anxious about penetration. This type of anxiety may go away on its own once you resume intercourse, but if it doesn’t, it might be helpful to seek support from a therapist who specializes in PTSD.

2. New mothers are often exhausted, sleep-deprived, and fatigued.

Due to the feeding schedule and short sleeping periods of infants, many new parents only get two or three hours of sleep in a row. Fatigue for both mothers and fathers can lead to feelings of depression and relationship conflict. Decreased sleep can lead to increased arguing and feelings of irritability.

More relationship conflict can also make it less likely partners will feel like having sex. After a period of adjustment, many couples find that their amount of sleep increases and that they have adapted to the change. Try talking to a counselor if relationship issues persist.

3. Adjusting to a new role as a parent can make it difficult for partners to have the energy to fulfill each other’s needs as well as the new baby’s.

Many women embrace motherhood and put all their energy into being a loving, caring, fully engaged parent. At the end of the day, it may be somewhat challenging to transition back into the role of romantic partner.

It can help if both partners make it a goal to set aside quality time to spend together doing things that don’t involve your baby. Do a hobby or an activity you used to do together, and try to take advantage of a babysitter when the grandparents come to visit. Keeping up the romantic relationship will be paramount in the success of your growing family.

[fat_widget_left]

4. Postpartum depression can make it even more difficult to adjust to parenthood.

Postpartum depression occurs in approximately 15% of women. Symptoms of postpartum depression include lack of energy, fatigue, insomnia, loss of appetite, thoughts of suicide, or thoughts of harming one’s baby. Depression on any level decreases feelings of desire and interest in intimacy. If you are having these feelings, contact your doctor right away. Medications and therapy can significantly help.

5. After giving birth, you may not feel like being touched.

Having an infant cling to you for most of the day and night can be pleasant and fulfilling. However, many women do not wish to be touched further, especially on their breasts (if breastfeeding), once baby is asleep for the night. Instead, it might be far preferable to shower and have a few minutes to yourself.

In addition, women are receiving oxytocin from cuddling with the infant so they are less likely to need cuddling and intimacy from their partners. This feeling of not wanting to be touched usually improves after a few months when babies nurse less frequently, sleep through the night, and women have started to return to a more regular schedule.

6. A decrease in sexual desire is common, regardless of type of delivery.

Whether they gave birth by vaginal delivery or C-section, most women report a decrease in sexual desire. According to the website Healthline, a woman creates more estrogen in the first months of pregnancy than in the rest of her entire life combined. After giving birth, however, estrogen levels plummet very quickly to pre-pregnancy levels. Estrogen is an important hormone in sexual desire and arousal, and decrease in sexual desire is a common effect of the rapid decrease in these levels.

In addition to estrogen changes, prolactin, a hormone secreted in the brain that causes milk letdown, increases when you are breastfeeding. When prolactin is elevated, testosterone and estrogen is suppressed, causing low libido and vaginal dryness. The vaginal walls may become frail and narrow. Hormonal birth controls can also worsen vaginal dryness, so consider speaking to your doctor about non-hormonal birth controls such as an intrauterine device (IUD) in order to offset these issues.

7. Many women experience difficulty with arousal and orgasm after giving birth.

Due to lowered levels of estrogen, fatigue, possible depression, and constant contact with an infant, many women report lower levels of arousal. Try much more extended foreplay (45 minutes to an hour) to give yourself more time than usual to become aroused. And although lubricant can be good, give your body sufficient time to try to get lubricated on its own. Listen to your body if it is telling you it is not ready for intercourse just yet.

8) For many women, childbirth may involve an episiotomy, stitches, tearing, or C-section. Many women find that they are anxious about resuming sexual activity because of the physical trauma their bodies have been through. Additionally, some women experience urinary incontinence and flatulence as a result of childbirth. These two conditions, and the possible embarrassment related to them, can make some women avoid sex. These two issues usually resolve themselves after six months, so talk to your doctor if these are a concern for you.

9. Vaginal pain may occur with intercourse. 

Whether you give birth vaginally or by C-section, vaginal pain is likely to happen (most likely due to the hormone changes). The good news is that recent research from University of California San Francisco shows that childbirth does not appear to affect a woman’s long-term sexual functioning (Fehniger, J.E.).

As long as your medical provider has given you approval to resume sex, take it slow, make sure you are adequately lubricated, and rest assured that any pain should be significantly improved within a few months. Try using a silicone-based lubricant for vaginal dryness. Some women may benefit from a vaginal moisturizer or an estrogen cream.

In addition, having more sex will likely help. Vaginal atrophy, when the walls of the vagina narrow and thin, can occur after long periods of time without sex. Having more frequent intercourse will help the vagina bounce back into shape. Of course, speak to your medical provider if the discomfort does not improve after a few months.

Having a baby is a wonderful time, but sometimes, sexual problems can be embarrassing or leave women feeling like they are alone in their problem. I hope that this overview was helpful and that you receive the support you need to resume your intimate relationship after adding a new addition to your family.

Resources:

  1. Beck, C., Watson, S. (2008). Impact of birth trauma on breast-feeding: A tale of two pathways. Nursing Research, 57(4). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18641491
  2. Fehniger, J. E., Brown, J.S., Creasman, J. M., Van Den Eeden, S. K., Thom, D. H., Subak, L. L., & Huang, A. J.  (2013, November 19). Childbirth and female sexual function later in life. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 122(5). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24104776
  3. Moore, K., Watson, K. (n.d.). What do you want to know about pregnancy? Healthline. Retrieved from https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy

GoodTherapy | Anxiety and Relationships: Seven Tips to Improve Communication is an important aspect of relationships, which can be incredibly complicated. Being in love doesn’t automatically lead to understanding or responding ideally to another person’s needs. Individuals with anxiety often feel misunderstood or unable to communicate effectively, and they may even avoid situations that require talking about certain topics.

When worry finds its way into your relationship, it can make it difficult to develop or maintain a strong bond with your partner. When you are experiencing fear or anxiety, your tendency may be to push others away, shut down, put up emotional walls, or isolate yourself. It can be a challenge to develop ways to turn to your partner. This can lead to questions, repeated attempts to “understand” what is going on, and this questioning can create feelings of uneasiness or being mistrusted in the anxious person’s partner. Such conflict can leave both partners feeling frustrated or angry.

People with anxiety typically report that their relationships improve once they are able to explain their condition and how it affects them to the important people in their lives.

[fat_widget_left]

Effective reduction strategies can help control anxiety and allow you to challenge your fears more readily. Here are seven basic ones that can help you begin to heal your relationship:

  1. Be honest. Talk about how your partner can support you when you are experiencing anxiety. Discuss how your anxiety creates tension.
  2. Don’t shut down. If you have a tendency to distance yourself from others when you’re anxious, make sure they know that the distancing is due to the anxiety and not them. Let them know it is simply a coping strategy.
  3. Explain what anxiety is and how it impacts you. Describe how it affects your thinking (intrusive and recurring thoughts, effects on decision making) as well as how anxiety manifests in your body (increased blood pressure, muscle tension, sweating). The more specific you can be, the more likely you and your partner will be to develop a plan to address these effects.
  4. Incorporate more movement into your day. Many studies show the physical and emotional benefits of exercise. Some show that regular exercise can be as effective as (or more so than) medication.
  5. Challenge your fears. Identify when you are having fear responses and pinpoint possible triggers. Dissecting your fears can make them seem less formidable.
  6. Listen and reflect. With anxiety, distortions occur. When you are anxious, you may hear only a small portion of what is being said to you before your mind begins to fill in the blanks and get reactive or defensive. By practicing listening skills in nonanxious moments, you can develop skills to use when you become anxious. If you repeat or restate what you heard your partner say, you may listen differently. This can give your partner an opportunity to clarify if your reflection doesn’t match his or her intent.
  7. Increase physical touch: Try to be more physically affectionate (holding hands, kissing, being close). Physical touch has been hardwired into all of us; each of us needs some level of connection. Discussing your touch needs can inspire dialogue that begins to repair any disconnect.

Each time we find the courage to challenge our fears, new opportunities can arise. What are you willing to challenge yourself to do in order to make your relationships better?

boy daydreaming in classWhen trying to determine if a child or teen is experiencing attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), it is important to obtain an accurate diagnosis and sense of how he or she is functioning in different domains. This can help guide treatment and other interventions.

As parents begin the process of determining if a child or teen has ADHD, many wonder what is entailed in a formal evaluation by a psychologist—and what benefits it may provide. As a psychologist who provides evaluations to diagnose ADHD and treats the issue through psychotherapy, I thought I could shed some light here. The methods used vary from professional to professional, but here is a general overview of a formal evaluation for ADHD, as completed by a psychologist.

In-Depth Clinical Interview

The time frame may vary somewhat, but on average this lasts one to two hours and provides the clinician with an opportunity to gather comprehensive background information about the child or teen, current symptoms, and other difficulties. The psychologist generally spends time meeting with the child or teen and his or her parents, together and/or separately.

Consultations with Relevant Professionals

Many psychologists consult with other service providers working with the child/teen, including mental health therapists, speech/language therapists, occupational therapists, and psychiatrists. In a lot of cases, the clinician will endeavor to complete a school observation and interview teachers. (Depending on the circumstances and the comfort level of those involved, this may not always be warranted or feasible.)

Formal Testing

The exact measures used and amount of time needed to complete testing vary, to some degree, for a variety of reasons. On average, formal testing for ADHD lasts between four and nine hours. Many clinicians opt to break up testing into two or three sessions on different days.

A variety of standardized measures involving direct interaction between the psychologist and child/teen—computerized measures, self-report and parent/teacher report questionnaires, and other types—are used to look at several areas of functioning, including cognitive functioning, academic achievement in a variety of domains, reading/language skills, attention/impulsivity, visual-motor skills, and emotional functioning.

[fat_widget_left]

Completed Report/Formal Feedback Session

Reports can take several weeks to complete; it takes considerable time to carefully review/interpret results and document it all.

The feedback session is an opportunity to learn about the results of the evaluation and begin talking about specific recommendations to assist the child/teen in improving areas in which he or she is struggling.

Diagnosing ADHD in children/teens is often not as simple as one might think; many issues, such as depression, anxiety, sensory issues, learning difficulties, auditory processing disorder, and even autism spectrum issues, have symptoms that can mimic ADHD. A formal evaluation is helpful in ruling out other issues to ensure an accurate diagnosis.

Nonetheless, depending on the presenting issues, an evaluation doesn’t always lead to definitive conclusions about diagnoses. In these cases, a parent still would come away with a clear sense of how the child/teen is functioning, and would have recommendations to assist him or her.

Benefits Beyond Diagnosis

Aside from obtaining an accurate diagnosis, here are a few possible benefits of having a formal evaluation conducted:

  1. Good understanding of the child/teen’s strengths and limitations
  2. Recommendations for teachers at school
  3. Recommendations for helping the child/teen at home (suggestions to improve organization, time management, behavior, etc.)
  4. Information and specific recommendations to help current and future service providers (psychiatrists, mental health therapists, etc.) best assist the child/teen
  5. Documentation of the issue that may qualify the child/teen for special education services in the form of a 504 plan or individualized education program (IEP). This may entitle the child/teen to accommodations such as extended time, private or small group testing environment to reduce distractions, use of a word processor in class, etc. Older teens may qualify for accommodations on college board exams as well as services in college. (Not all public school systems/private schools use outside evaluations in the same way, so depending on the school system, ADHD alone may not qualify a child for services.)

If you believe that your child/teen has ADHD and he or she is struggling academically, socially, or in other areas, it is important to get a clear sense of his or her difficulties, determine if it is indeed ADHD, and obtain appropriate treatment.

Disclaimer: The preceding article is intended as general guidance based on the author’s professional opinion, does not constitute an established professional relationship, and should not replace the recommendations of a psychologist or other licensed professional with whom you initiate or maintain a professional relationship.

So, if you’re stressed about something in life—whether it’s an upcoming presentation or performance, or a trip to an unfamiliar territory, or a big party you’re responsible for planning—it may bring you significant relief to, you know, talk about it with someone who has either been there or is going through it with you.

This may seem like a given—like something that doesn’t necessarily require research to confirm. But in the moments when stress and anxiety creep in and become all-consuming, it can be difficult to remember what helps to alleviate them.

According to a study led by Sarah Townsend, an assistant professor at USC Marshall School of Business, it is the specific interaction with a person who genuinely understands your emotion and response, and ideally is also experiencing it at the same time, that will provide measurable relief from stress.

For the study, Townsend and colleagues paired up participants who displayed “emotional similarity” and instructed them to deliver a speech while being videotaped. Each pair was told to discuss their feelings leading up to the presentation with one another, and as this was all happening, their cortisol levels were measured and documented.

They found that within these pairs, the simple act of talking with one another acted as a buffer from experiencing the high levels of stress typically associated with preparing for a speech. The results, which were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, send the message that finding an emotionally “similar” partner may be key to keeping calm and carrying on when faced with potentially stressful situations.

References:

  1. Townsend, S. S. M., Kim, H. S., and Mesquita, B. (2013, December). Are you feeling what I’m feeling? Emotional similarity buffers stress. Social Psychological and Personality Science. doi: 10.1177/1948550613511499. Abstract retrieved from http://spp.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/12/16/1948550613511499.abstract
  2. USC Marshall School of Business. (2014, January 29). Two stressed people equals less stress. Press Release. Retrieved from http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/umso-tsp012914.php

sinking shipI remember deciding to leave my marriage. After months and months of trying to make it work, I got to a point where I couldn’t stay any longer. It wasn’t my choice to end the marriage, but my partner made it impossible for me to stay. The decision to walk away from something I had been so committed to was torturous because there was a part of me that would not let go of the idea that it could be saved.

I knew the ship was sinking fast, and I tried really hard to scoop out the water, but ultimately I got to a point where I had to jump. With no life raft waiting for me, I chose to plunge into the deep, murky waters of a new life that would be completely different than what I had planned.

People in therapy often ask me how they can know when it’s time to stop trying and give up on saving a marriage. My answer is always the same: There may come a time when you know you can’t stand it any longer. It may coincide with a loss of integrity and a fear of losing yourself in something you intuitively know is not healthy for you. There is no set time frame; it’s different for every person and every unique situation.

It takes a great amount of courage to walk away from a marriage even if you have exhausted all avenues to try and salvage what’s broken. Even when one partner refuses to work on things, the idea of leaving a marriage dead in the water is beyond painful and hard to overcome.

It’s almost always fear and hope that keep people in a terminal marriage for a little too long—the fear of walking away from something too soon, and the hope that it can be resurrected.

The limbo of whether to work on something or walk away can last for weeks, months, or even years. It’s a personal choice that can come only from a place of deep certainty and a readiness to relinquish the fantasy of what could have been.

I have seen many people who don’t technically “leave the marriage” until well after they are divorced. A signature on a page doesn’t define an ending in the same way a marital commitment is much more than a piece of paper.

No one can ever tell you how or when to be done with your marriage, but here are a few indicators that you might be staying in a marriage beyond its expiration date.

  1. Your partner blatantly does and says things that hurt you.
  2. He or she disappears for long periods of time without being “reachable.”
  3. Your partner refuses to end the relationship he or she has been having outside the marriage.
  4. Your partner no longer includes you in his or her daily life.
  5. He or she has moved out of the house into his or her own place.
  6. You constantly find yourself wondering where the person you married has gone.
  7. You rationalize his or her behavior as a “midlife crisis.”
  8. You witness big discrepancies between what your partner says and does.
  9. He or she refuses to go to couples counseling.
  10. Your partner tells you he or she doesn’t love you anymore.

Some of these indicators may be hard to swallow or accept, but if they raise your awareness or give you a bar by which to measure the health of your relationship, perhaps it will be easier to put your marriage to rest.

Woman holding glass of waterMindfulness practices are quickly becoming an integral part of many people’s day-to-day lives, largely inspired by the belief that our thoughts and intentions have a significant impact on our overall health and well-being. Testimonies and reports are continually emerging to support the notion that rampant internal negativity may be associated with physical and psychological pain, while carefully cultivated positivity in the mental sphere is linked to improved physical and psychological wellness.

Of course, no matter the amount of personal belief and experience that testify to the power of positive thought and intention, the call for scientific evidence remains. This makes it particularly intriguing when researchers manage to validate what some might otherwise flippantly dismiss as “woo-woo.”

The positive intention studies of one researcher in particular, Dr. Masaru Emoto, have revealed that not only do our intentions have the capacity to hurt or help ourselves, but our words and intentions also have the capacity to significantly impact those around us.

Since 1994, Emoto has conducted several experiments in which his team of researchers observed the effects of spoken word, prayer, music, and images on crystals of frozen water. The photographs captured in response to these stimuli revealed “beautiful crystals” forming in response to positive words and phrases, music, and “pure prayer.” Conversely, when spoken to or influenced negatively, the water molecules appeared disfigured and broken in the photographs (Emoto, 2010).

Dr. Emoto chose to focus his research on water molecules because water comprises approximately 70% of the fluids in the human body, so the connection is obvious. For years, Dr. Emoto has been publishing the results of his studies in his Messages from Water book series, and a sampling of the photographs can be seen online at masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html.

Water molecule photos are also included in Dr. Emoto’s children’s e-book The Secret Language of Water, which can be viewed and downloaded for free at emoto-peace-project.com. Available in several languages, the book intends to educate young people of the importance of water on this planet and in our bodies.

In a more recent study conducted by Dr. Masaru Emoto and colleagues, some 2,000 people in Tokyo focused long-distance positive intentions on water samples contained in “a double-steel-walled, electromagnetically shielded room” at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) in Petaluma, California (Radin, Hayssen, Emoto, and Kizu, 2006).

On November 16, 2005, Emoto led the participants “in a prayer of gratitude directed toward the water in the IONS laboratory, some 5,000 miles away” (Radin et al., 2006). They were shown digital images of the bottles of water, and the prayer lasted for approximately five minutes. The water samples were then sent to Emoto’s lab in Japan. Specific measures were taken to ensure that the water bottles were kept separate and free from outside influence, and when the contents were examined, 40 unique water molecules were photographed.

The researchers then enlisted 100 volunteers to blindly evaluate the photographs based on aesthetic appeal. Basically, they wanted to see which water molecules were perceived as beautiful and pleasing, and which ones were not. Both “treated” and untreated molecules were included.

The results reinforced the idea that “water treated with pleasant intentions” results in “more pleasing crystal shapes” than water that did not receive this treatment (Radin et al., 2006).

In 2004, Emoto’s work received a great deal of attention when his photographs of crystallized water were featured in the film What the Bleep Do We Know? And through his ongoing explorations into how our words and intentions impact water molecules, and what that means not just for human life but for the bodies of water that sustain us, Dr. Emoto has become internationally known as “the water messenger.”

The video below, which you may have seen circulating around the Internet, features another of Emoto’s experiments, in which cooked rice was placed in three separate beakers: the first container was told “thank you,” the second one was told “you’re an idiot,” and the third one was completely ignored. After 30 days, the “thank you” rice remained white and began to ferment, “giving off a strong, pleasant odor”; the “you’re an idiot” rice turned black; and the neglected rice began to rot. Poor rice!

Several videos on YouTube reflect similar results when people have tried Emoto’s experiment at home with their own supplies.

Emoto’s work sends a clear message that what we feel and say to ourselves and others has the potential to alter the very molecules surrounding us; in other words, being mindful matters!

References:

  1. Emoto, M. (2010). What is the photograph of frozen water crystals? Retrieved from http://www.masaru-emoto.net/english/water-crystal.html
  2. Radin, D., Hayssen, G., Emoto, M., and Kizu, T. (2006, September). Double-blind test of the effects of distant intention on water crystal formation. Explore: The Journal of Science and Healing, Vol. 2, Issue 5, 408-411. Retrieved from http://www.explorejournal.com/article/S1550-8307(06)00327-2/fulltext
  3. Spirit Science and Metaphysics. Did you know your thoughts can do this to water crystals? Retrieved from http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/scientific-proof-thoughts-and-intentions-can-alter-the-world-around-us/

 

happy family using tablet pcIt is not uncommon for a man with high-functioning autism/Asperger’s to have a child who also has it, because there are genetic components to this brain structure variance that manifests as what we call HFA. These differences are in the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.

High-functioning autism is not a mental illness. It is not a personality disorder. It is not ADHD, ADD, or oppositional defiance disorder. It is a physiologic difference in the brain with a spectrum of possible manifestations. A father passes on his genetic material to his son. Some of this material can contain the code for HFA.

In my practice, I often see neurotypical women in such a triad. Usually, the pathway for the wife is difficult, as she feels as if she is the outsider as she struggles to be understood and to feel that she is valued in her family.

It is a difficult challenge for a neurotypical woman to put herself in the mindset of the HFA husband or son. She can understand the differences intellectually, but when it comes to feelings, she inadvertently defaults to her neurotypical frame of reference. She tells me she can’t help it. She tells me it is exhausting and, most often, fruitless.

I tell her that I understand her position. We talk about feeling alone and alienated. But I also try to bring her to a place of being able to see what it might be like for her if she were in her husband’s or son’s position as individuals with HFA trying to make their way in a neurotypical world.

They are often exhausted, confused, and frustrated. They feel intense anxiety and fears about missing social cues, misunderstanding subtexts in conversations, and taking everything literally, missing the nonverbal aspects of communication.

When I see women married to HFA husbands whose children also carry the diagnosis, we work together on several things: the grief that attends the loss of her dreams and hopes, the reconstruction of her sense of self and the reinvigoration of her personal goals, and ways in which she can retain her newly-regained confidence. We also work on methods she can use so that she can communicate with her husband and son in such a way that they understand cognitively what she is explaining about her emotions.

It is not easy. But with support, the wife in such a situation can learn techniques and strategies for getting her point across that may not seem comfortable to her at first. Once she begins to see that they work, however, they can become second nature to her.

They will never be her first nature, however. Good support along her journey of discovery is of extreme importance for her well-being and for reinforcement that she is doing the best she can. She will also need help decoding things she does not understand and things she has tried which have not worked, or which have backfired. A good therapist who understands the unique position of the woman in this family is an ally in this journey.

The family dynamics are challenging, but they can be managed with care and with the intent to hold the family together.

sad mother holding young childOne of the common themes I come across when working with mothers experiencing depression and anxiety is perfectionism and people-pleasing. Moms get worn out when they are trying to make everyone happy all the time.

There are often good reasons for a tendency to be over-responsible for the feelings of others. Many of us come from families where there was an unspoken expectation that a child must be “good,” because one or both parents were unable to tolerate the challenge of even normal childhood misbehavior. Or sometimes, children develop an unconscious habit of caretaking for others as a way to get their own needs met.

However this pattern develops, it likely served a valuable purpose, which is why it became second nature. Children learn to intuit the moods, thoughts, and feelings of others. They modify their own behavior in an attempt to manage the responses of others. Often, this behavior is rewarded. Who doesn’t appreciate the helpful child who asks her mom if she needs a hug when she seems sad, or goes and plays quietly in her room when there is tension between her parents?

People-pleasing behavior is rewarded by friends and family, at work, and at school. A people-pleaser is there for her friends when they need support and earns the love and trust of her partner. She knows what to say and when to say it, at least most of the time. The cost of this unconscious caretaking is a loss of connection to the self. When your thoughts are focused on intuiting what others want and need, and your actions are focused on pleasing others, there is little space to experience your own feelings, thoughts, and needs. You may not even notice when your needs go unmet or when emotions are pulling for your attention. Sometimes, these unmet needs and unfelt emotions cause physical symptoms—headaches, back or stomach problems, or other tension-related difficulties. These symptoms temporarily draw our attention back to ourselves, making it harder to attend to others and focusing more attention on ourselves and our discomfort.

Having children can push what is already a difficult emotional burden into overdrive, creating anxiety, depression, exhaustion, and even worse physical manifestations. While you may have been able to keep your friends, employer, partner, and family happy before, when a baby comes into the picture, a whole new level of exhaustion ensues. Now you’re sleep-deprived, have a baby whose needs are never-ending, a partner who is stressed out, and it is truly impossible to make everyone happy. This is when, for a lot of moms, things hit a crisis point. Anxiety becomes unmanageable, or exhaustion leads to crippling depression. However, it is also an opportunity to address a long-standing pattern of behavior that has prevented you from taking care of yourself. It is a necessity to learn to increase your attunement to yourself and to let go of unconscious patterns of caretaking.

Looking at how these patterns play out in everyday life can be illuminating. You may discover that ways in which you are caring for others are based on assumptions of what people want or need from you, and that these assumptions are often wrong. You may find that your unconscious perpetual caretaking actually makes you less available when others truly do want or need something from you. So often, people-pleasing behavior leaves us resentful and feeling less generous to those we love. Compulsive caretaking can actually make us less available to others in concrete ways.

One way to begin to address people-pleasing is to become aware of how much of your thinking takes the form of “I should.” It is important to examine all the thoughts about what you should be doing/saying/feeling. Who says you “should”? What will happen if you don’t? What do you really want to do? One way of improving self-care and reducing people-pleasing is to challenge the “shoulds” whenever you become aware of them. Another is to check in with people about what they really do want and need from you, and more carefully balance the stated needs of others with what you truly need to do to take care of yourself. And making conscious choices to do for others is emotionally quite different from unconscious caretaking. It is done in the spirit of generosity, not because it is what you are supposed to do.

Learning to tune into your own feelings and needs and becoming conscious of making choices to balance them against your sense of responsibility to others is one of the most powerful ways to regain a sense of personal power. Regaining a sense of power in your life helps make you a better, stronger, and healthier mom and partner.

GoodTherapy | Managing the Milestone: Your Child’s 18th BirthdayOver the course of a decade working therapeutically with adolescents and their families, I have observed countless young people as they reach a highly anticipated milestone in their lives: turning 18. I have also observed the parents of all those young people as they attempt to adjust to the transition that occurs when their “baby” officially becomes an adult. It has been my experience that a child’s 18th birthday is an especially potent event for families, and the ways in which families respond to this event, for better or worse, can form the basis for the launching of their child into young adulthood.

Of course, we all know why the 18th birthday is a really big deal: it’s the one on which Western culture bestows young people with most of the rights they will enjoy for the rest of their lives. These rights include moving about at will without restrictions, curfews, or the like; choosing friends and partners of whom the parents may not approve; signing contracts such as military enlistments, marriage certificates, and leases; borrowing money via loans and credit cards; obtaining or declining medical and mental health care; and quitting or enrolling oneself in educational programs.

Along with those rights, a number of new responsibilities are also bestowed upon each young person on his or her 18th birthday. For example, the young adult must actually uphold any contract that is signed, including paying back loans and lines of credit. Another new responsibility is that, legally, a person—even one who is still in high school—is treated as an adult rather than a juvenile within the legal system. The 18-year-old’s behaviors and choices carry consequences that are far and above what they have ever before experienced.

With all of the cultural and personal implications that hang on the 18th birthday, it is no surprise that navigating this milestone can challenge families. This is an event that can change, literally overnight, the power balances, rules, and expectations between parents and children. Families may spend months or even years nervously anticipating this change; conversely, they may be blindsided by the realities of parenting a child in this brand-new context, and find themselves dealing with unexpected consequences.

In some families, the 18th birthday is treated as a full stop to adolescence, and the newly minted adult is expected to (or believes he/she is ready and able to) immediately begin fulfilling many adult-like roles. The adult child may be expected to, for example, begin paying rent to the parents, purchase his or her own vehicle, or find a full-time job.

In other families, the cultural and legal implications of a child’s 18th birthday are treated as irrelevant inside the family fold; the family attempts to keep everything regarding their child, from rules and curfews to roles and communication styles, exactly the same as before.

In still other families, both the anticipation and actual event of a child turning 18 can become a flashpoint for family upheaval and conflicts. The newly adult child may use turning 18 as a springboard for rebellious or ill-advised shows of independence. Likewise, the parents may threaten the adult child with being kicked out, losing financial help, or other withdrawals of support in an attempt to enforce compliance with rules and expectations.

The “real world” is at once enticing and terrifying for emerging adults.

Many young adults have described feeling as if they’ve been thrown into the deep end of a pool once it sinks in that they are truly considered adults, and may often feel quite unprepared to meet the demands of the “real world.” At the same time, they are excited to flex some of their new independence and privileges, and may at times feel driven to act out adult-like roles and scripts the moment that they have the legal ability to do so.

One primary reason for this is that at 18, the young person’s brain is continuing to develop and does not yet function as a fully mature brain does. The brain’s reward system, governing the way that novelty- and pleasure-reinforcing neurotransmitters such as dopamine are released, peaks in activity in the late teen years. The prefrontal cortex—which aids with decision making, problem solving, and impulse inhibition—is not at its full level of function until the mid-twenties. The fact is, a young adult on his or her 18th birthday is not magically wiser, more resourceful, or more emotionally mature than he or she was the day before, and won’t think and act like a fully mature adult until a few years later.

To complicate the picture, there are almost always needs and dependencies that persist between the 18-year-old and his or her parents. For example, an 18-year-old who is still in high school cannot work full time even if he or she wanted to, and even those out of high school usually continue to be financially dependent. Shared health insurance, car insurance, family cell phone plans, and other matters of money and information mean that negotiating the leading edge of your child’s independence can be tricky at best.

Although we in Western societies now experience a more extended period of adolescent development and dependence than ever before, and although we are now more aware of the realities of brain development, the fact is that 18 continues to be the age of majority in the United States. The mismatch between the legal freedoms and the young person’s capacity to exercise them responsibly can create rough waters for families to navigate. Power struggles that exist between the child and the parents around the time of the child’s 18th birthday can quickly escalate into the child threatening to leave, and/or the parents threatening to kick the child out. The child may choose to do things that are legally acceptable, but are not acceptable to the parents who support him or her.

Every family will handle this transition differently, according to its own unique set of strengths, expectations, and history. However, there are a few rules of thumb that parents can keep in mind which may assist them in managing this major milestone.

The boundary around the family must be flexible—neither too diffuse nor too rigid.

First and foremost, resist the urge to threaten to kick your child out. The subject of your young adult child leaving home will often arise sometime within the months around his or her 18th birthday. You may find your child saying things like, “I don’t like your rules. I should go live with my friend where they don’t have these rules.” Often, by talking about (or threatening to) move out, the child is testing out ideas about being an adult, without any actual intention of following through on those ideas. The 18-year-old usually does not have the experience, wisdom, or resources to leave the home in a safe or well-planned way—and he or she knows it.

If your child does threaten to leave home, as the parent it is imperative that your response be one of reassurance that the child is still a part of the family and that the family home continues to be his or her home. Remember that your 18-year-old is struggling to adjust his or her self-concept to include adult-like roles, and mentally trying some of these on for size is developmentally normative. However, when parents respond to limit-testing behaviors by threatening to kick the child out of the home, the child feels insecure about the stability of the family system and his or her role in it; the boundaries become diffuse and the child becomes unsure about whether he or she can count on remaining a part of the family on which he or she remains largely dependent.

Another problem with parents threatening to kick the child out is that systems under stress tend to escalate to the most intense point of conflict during each conflict cycle. Once parents introduce the possibility of kicking the child out, it is likely to become incorporated into every argument that follows—either by the parents or by the child in anticipation of the parents’ threat. This escalation pattern severely disrupts the stability of the family system.

So it’s important that the boundary around who is in and who is out of the family system remains well-defined so that the young adult child feels secure about his or her place in the world long enough to figure out his or her next steps into adulthood. However, it is also important that the family boundary not be so rigid that it inhibits the child’s necessary practicing of adult-like behaviors in safe and appropriate ways. Families who refuse to allow their 18-year-old to make an increasing number of choices and reach increasing levels of independence can inhibit the development of responsibility, self-sufficiency, and life skills that the young adult child will soon need. Therefore, ongoing adjustments to certain family rules, such as curfews, jobs/bills, and friend/partner choices, are essential.

Use negotiation skills to co-create a new set of roles and rules that meet the needs of all family members.

How, then, can parents approach these transitions? One way to help your child learn how to be an adult is to treat him or her like one—at first emotionally, and later more practically. Speaking respectfully to your child, accepting his or her opinions as valid, and encouraging him or her to do the same to you are ways to introduce your child to adult-like, egalitarian relating. Negotiating new rules, privileges, and responsibilities together—“family meetings” are helpful for this—allows both the parents and the child to mutually create adjustments to the rules that are thoughtful, sensible, and predictable. Many families find it helpful to write down the new rules and display them in the home so that all parties remember them (and remember that they agreed to them!).

If any family member feels that the current rules and expectations are not working, they can call a new family meeting at any time to review and possibly revise them. If parents and child reach an impasse, try to be as creative as possible to find ways to meet the needs of all family members. Young adults may be happy to agree to increasing levels of responsibility in the home in exchange for increasing levels of trust and privilege. The family members should keep in mind that flexibility, communication, and negotiation with a goal of mutual agreement will take them smoothly through this period of transition.

It can be helpful for these discussions to begin well before the 18th birthday, so that there is plenty of time for the family members to think ahead, anticipate, and become mentally ready for the changes to the power balance and expectations that will likely occur. A discussion that occurs over the course of weeks or months is more likely to involve all family members, cover more contingencies and “what-ifs,” and result in a smoother transition through the actual birthday.

However, it is never too late. If you find yourself with a child who is already 18, or even 19 or 20, and are experiencing a difficult family adjustment into your child’s young adulthood, it is still advisable to approach your child and create an open dialogue about the rules and roles in the family.

Important Notice

GoodTherapy is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, medical treatment, or therapy. Always seek the advice of your physician or qualified mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding any mental health symptom or medical condition. Never disregard professional psychological or medical advice nor delay in seeking professional advice or treatment because of something you have read on GoodTherapy.